2 posts tagged “bc”
++UPDATE! THE REMAINDER OF MY PICTURES ARE HERE++
I was lucky enough to get floor seat tickets last night to Kanye's historic Glow In The Dark Concert which stopped at GM Place in Vancouver. The sold out night did not dissapoint. The line ups were insanely long due to the camera checks. Well my buddy Peyv pulled some skills out of his ass and snuck us through to the front while I smuggled my camera in without a hitch!
As we arrived some local chantuese was finishing up and I was worried that I missed some of the top notch acts that were billed to open for Kanye. Our seats were alright but I would have prefered much closer of course but these tickets were tough to get selling out in minutes.
First up was Lupe Fiasco. The first tune was pretty good at getting the crowd's attention but by Superstar the whole audience was sucked in and wanted more but he had to wrap it up two songs later because ultimately this show is about Kanye. I was so surprised with Lupe's stage presence. The dude is a star. I want to see him in a smaller setting because he was fantastic. Don't even get me started on Matthew Santos too. His voice is extraordinary and paired with Lupe resulted in magic on the stage that I wouldn't have minded watching for much longer.
As soon as Lupe was off a giant LCD screen was being assembled. Out came N.E.R.D. Pharrell was on stage just meters in front of me... PHARRELL! He's huge! The N.E.R.D. set was much more rock than hip hop but they played well. It was a bit all over the place and not as concise as Lupe but still enjoyable. Especially where hos from the audience came up on stage to gyrate (two of those girls were sitting in front of us and were actually pretty sweet but unfortunately when walking home will probably be asked "how much?"). Well one of the hos felt pretty good about herself because she just licked Pharrell's sweat off of his abs after he pulled his shirt up. With her new found confidence she started busting her moves at the edge of the stage and bang she went down. In mid song Pharell's goes "OK when I say go you... OH SHIT!" hahaha.
Then alien princess herself came on a few minutes of stage assembly. Rihanna had landed. The space theme was slowly being thrown upon us. Her entry was hot. Very S&M where RiRi was cloaked in a black robe with this long tutu lace train thing wrapped around her perfect waist. Yes those curves are banging and her face is flawless. Her voice is remarkably good! However, when her big tunes came on like "Don't Stop The Music" and "Umbrella" I was expecting just a little more umph. Don't get me wrong... she brought it but there's this calibre that's out there that separates you from good to extraordinary. I thought Rihanna could reach the extraordinary but came short. Maybe in time she'll get there.
Then we crash landed on another planet. Out came the extraordinary. It was Kanye. Lifelessly lying on the stage which had been transformed into another dimension. Another planet. ANOTHER WORLD! The thought that went into his production. The work that went into the remastering of his tunes. It was amazing. There were times I caught myself not cheering or saying anything simply because I was just so taken by it all. Each song rolled into each other with few pauses in between. Kanye delievered a non stop vocal barrage while sweating up a storm leaving me to believe this guy doesn't breath. I would have been collapsed on the ground due to exhaustion after twenty minutes worth of what Kanye gave us. Flashing Lights was by far my favourite just due to the intro itself. Yes it had very eletronic bleepy bits which is just a given for me to love. I also loved the geniousness of how this space age sci-fi theme told Kanye's life story. He played all the hits but for some reason it wasn't about his hits... it was about this journey we were on. Everything tune made so much sense when played and I again couldn't get over the amount of thought put into this. Absolutely amazing and I can't wait to see him live 3 more times! 4 more times! 5 more times... as many times I'll get!
Check out my less than amazing pics from the night but you'll get the jist of it and I had to post previous concert footage of Flashing Lights.
Blinded by the lights! The stage for Simian Mobile Disco was packed with LEDs systematically turning on and off with electronic beats pounding in the background. Now I totally enjoyed myself but felt the crowd was lacklustre in their enthusiasm. They're not entirely in the blame... SMD isn't the most engaging act to watch even though they seamlessly mixed together their top songs from their current album Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release with remixes they've done. Coming out of a few shows that I've seen recently I just feel that it was as pumped as Justice was. Maybe it was the venue. Maybe Richards is just too small to let loose. Maybe it's cuz letting loose would have had you rubbing up on a scenster who smelled of like a vintage clothing store with cigarette smoke hair. However, I'm glad I went. I got a great t-shirt out of it. Check out the rest of the pics on flickr.
